How To Raise Money with Online Fundraising

Many people think that once they start a crowdfunding campaign, all their financial woes will disappear. If only it were that easy! One of the biggest challenges in running a successful crowdfunding campaign is knowing how to market it.

As hosts of hundreds of thousands of campaigns, we have learned a thing or two about how to be successful at crowdfunding. We’ve broken down our top seven best tips and tricks to make your fundraiser a huge success.

Tip #1: Tell Your Story

There is a reason you have started a campaign on Fundly. Maybe your best friend was recently diagnosed with a disease, or you are trying to raise money for your son’s boy scout troop. Each campaign has its own unique and compelling story. The best way to get people to connect with your cause is to tell this story. Make sure that it’s clear to your audience why are you raising money and what this cause means to you. Don’t be afraid to get personal - potential donors and supporters love being able to relate and understand why you’re raising money and where their money is going. Also, a picture is worth a thousand words, so think about adding photos and creating videos for your campaign page.

Tip #2: Recruit Your Inner Circle

When starting your campaign, it’s important to recruit your inner circle. Behind every great campaign are family and friends who are passionate about sharing your story!

Email is a great way of sharing your campaign with friends and family. Make sure to customize your message to each person, and remember to make them feel connected to your story and passionate about helping you raise money.

Tip #3: Social Media is Your Best Friend

Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are powerful tools to help spread your story. Think of your social media campaign as a chain reaction--as you share your story, your friends and family will start to share it, and their friends and family, and so on.

Use hashtags. Ex: If you’re raising money for autism awareness, make sure to use relevant hashtags like #autism #autismspeaks and #autismawareness.

Again, we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure to include pictures in your social media posts.

Give a shout out on social media to thank your supporters. Publicly thanking donors makes them feel appreciated and gives them an easy way to post or retweet your story.

Tip #4: Treat Your Supporters Like Family

Your family knows your past and present, successes and failures. As you launch your Fundly campaign, you will form a new family, made up of your supporters, donors, and advocates. Keep your new family up to date on how your campaign is going and any good (or bad) news you have to share with them. Make sure to take advantage of the blogging feature we have built into your campaign page, which makes updates a no-brainer.

Tip #5: Share Your Campaign With Local Media Outlets

Local news outlets are always looking for compelling stories to cover. Whether or not you feel like your story is “newsworthy,” don't be afraid to reach out to local reporters and tell them why they should cover yours.

Since reporters typically spend no more than 15 seconds deciding whether a story is worth their time, make sure to keep your message short and to-the-point. To find a reporter’s email or Twitter handle, browse the About Us page of your local newspaper or new channel’s website.

Tip #6: Connect the Online With the Offline

Try to combine your online fundraising with offline events. Offline event ideas include, but are not limited to, a walk or run, a dinner, a sales event, or a service event. Also, don’t forget to cover the success of your offline events! Post photos from the event online and inform your audience about its success - offline donations can be tracked within your Fundly campaign as checks/cash. Also consider getting local news reporters to cover the event.

Tip #7: Set Aggressive But Manageable Goals

Take time to sit down and think about what you hope to achieve through crowdfunding. How much money are you hoping to raise? How many supporters do you want or need behind you? How much time do you have to devote to you efforts?

Make sure to set realistic goals that you are confident you can achieve. If you are having a hard time achieving your funding goal, don’t stress! At Fundly, every campaign is able to keep their funding--whether you reach your target or not!

Once you have success, make sure you raise your funding goal and share with your supporters your new target amount! And remember--your campaign’s end date can be changed and extended as many times as you’d like.

Tip #8: Give a Little in Order to Get a Lot Back

Sometimes people are more willing to give if they know that they are going to get a little something in return. Try using campaign incentives where contributors get something in return for certain donation values. Get creative! - certain campaign incentives can motivate people to give even more money.

Tip #9: Use Our T-Shirt Feature

Sell t-shirts directly on your Fundly campaign page! You can design and select the types of shirts that you’d like to fundraise with on Fundly. It’s a fun way to thank your supporters and spread awareness of your cause.

Tip #10: Be Persistent and Convey Urgency!

So you’ve shared your story via email and social media to your friends and family. Now what? Two words: Remind and Repeat!

Our platform makes it easy to send automatic reminders to your friends and family who have not yet supported your campaign. Fundly’s automatic reminder emails receive a 10% conversion rate, proving that even those with the best intentions forget to do things. If at first you don’t succeed… ASK AGAIN!

It's also really important to communicate your campaign's end date and your fundraising goals with your audience. Conveying urgency will motivate people to act now instead of putting things off till later. Keep your audience up to date with how much time is left with your campaign and how much more you need to raise in order to reach your fundraising goals.

How To Raise Money with Online Fundraising

Many people think that once they start a crowdfunding campaign, all their financial woes will disappear. If only it were that easy! One of the biggest challenges in running a successful crowdfunding campaign is knowing how to market it.

As hosts of hundreds of thousands of campaigns, we have learned a thing or two about how to be successful at crowdfunding. We’ve broken down our top seven best tips and tricks to make your fundraiser a huge success.

Tip #1: Tell Your Story

There is a reason you have started a campaign on Fundly. Maybe your best friend was recently diagnosed with a disease, or you are trying to raise money for your son’s boy scout troop. Each campaign has its own unique and compelling story. The best way to get people to connect with your cause is to tell this story. Make sure that it’s clear to your audience why are you raising money and what this cause means to you. Don’t be afraid to get personal - potential donors and supporters love being able to relate and understand why you’re raising money and where their money is going. Also, a picture is worth a thousand words, so think about adding photos and creating videos for your campaign page.

Tip #2: Recruit Your Inner Circle

When starting your campaign, it’s important to recruit your inner circle. Behind every great campaign are family and friends who are passionate about sharing your story!

Email is a great way of sharing your campaign with friends and family. Make sure to customize your message to each person, and remember to make them feel connected to your story and passionate about helping you raise money.

Tip #3: Social Media is Your Best Friend

Social media platforms like Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram are powerful tools to help spread your story. Think of your social media campaign as a chain reaction--as you share your story, your friends and family will start to share it, and their friends and family, and so on.

Use hashtags. Ex: If you’re raising money for autism awareness, make sure to use relevant hashtags like #autism #autismspeaks and #autismawareness.

Again, we all know that a picture is worth a thousand words. Make sure to include pictures in your social media posts.

Give a shout out on social media to thank your supporters. Publicly thanking donors makes them feel appreciated and gives them an easy way to post or retweet your story.

Tip #4: Treat Your Supporters Like Family

Your family knows your past and present, successes and failures. As you launch your Fundly campaign, you will form a new family, made up of your supporters, donors, and advocates. Keep your new family up to date on how your campaign is going and any good (or bad) news you have to share with them. Make sure to take advantage of the blogging feature we have built into your campaign page, which makes updates a no-brainer.

Tip #5: Share Your Campaign With Local Media Outlets

Local news outlets are always looking for compelling stories to cover. Whether or not you feel like your story is “newsworthy,” don't be afraid to reach out to local reporters and tell them why they should cover yours.

Since reporters typically spend no more than 15 seconds deciding whether a story is worth their time, make sure to keep your message short and to-the-point. To find a reporter’s email or Twitter handle, browse the About Us page of your local newspaper or new channel’s website.

Tip #6: Connect the Online With the Offline

Try to combine your online fundraising with offline events. Offline event ideas include, but are not limited to, a walk or run, a dinner, a sales event, or a service event. Also, don’t forget to cover the success of your offline events! Post photos from the event online and inform your audience about its success - offline donations can be tracked within your Fundly campaign as checks/cash. Also consider getting local news reporters to cover the event.

Tip #7: Set Aggressive But Manageable Goals

Take time to sit down and think about what you hope to achieve through crowdfunding. How much money are you hoping to raise? How many supporters do you want or need behind you? How much time do you have to devote to you efforts?

Make sure to set realistic goals that you are confident you can achieve. If you are having a hard time achieving your funding goal, don’t stress! At Fundly, every campaign is able to keep their funding--whether you reach your target or not!

Once you have success, make sure you raise your funding goal and share with your supporters your new target amount! And remember--your campaign’s end date can be changed and extended as many times as you’d like.

Tip #8: Give a Little in Order to Get a Lot Back

Sometimes people are more willing to give if they know that they are going to get a little something in return. Try using campaign incentives where contributors get something in return for certain donation values. Get creative! - certain campaign incentives can motivate people to give even more money.

Tip #9: Use Our T-Shirt Feature

Sell t-shirts directly on your Fundly campaign page! You can design and select the types of shirts that you’d like to fundraise with on Fundly. It’s a fun way to thank your supporters and spread awareness of your cause.

Tip #10: Be Persistent and Convey Urgency!

So you’ve shared your story via email and social media to your friends and family. Now what? Two words: Remind and Repeat!

Our platform makes it easy to send automatic reminders to your friends and family who have not yet supported your campaign. Fundly’s automatic reminder emails receive a 10% conversion rate, proving that even those with the best intentions forget to do things. If at first you don’t succeed… ASK AGAIN!

It's also really important to communicate your campaign's end date and your fundraising goals with your audience. Conveying urgency will motivate people to act now instead of putting things off till later. Keep your audience up to date with how much time is left with your campaign and how much more you need to raise in order to reach your fundraising goals.